Greetings, friends! The morning started out with a beautiful sunrise.
My plan was to drive to Charles City Courthouse and from there bike to historic Jamestown.
I was thrilled to see so many lovely cornfields along the way. I love corn!
Here's the halfway mark -- the bridge over the Pamunkey.
After an hour and a half of cycling I finally reached the Jamestown Settlement, where you'll discover the story of America's beginnings through gallery exhibits and outdoor living history.
The museum is open from 9:00 to 5:00 daily and is really worth seeing.
There I turned around and biked back to the car -- about a 41 mile round trip in all.
The ride was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Over the years I've realized there are things I love and hate about running, and one of the things I definitely do not like is what it does to your toes. My big toe started bothering me at about mile 20 and the pain only got worse the longer I rode.
I'm kicking myself for not having pulled the toenail off before leaving the house today. The only good thing about injuries is that they are (thankfully) temporary. I know one other thing: The harder you work for something, the more it means to you. The fact that the last 20 miles of my ride today were monumentally difficult made the finish that much sweeter.
But all that is water under the bridge. It's time to enjoy a nice quiet evening on the farm, full of gratitude for the amazing experience the Lord allowed me to have today. When the day is done, I try to remember a couple of things:
1) Exercise is not your life. Your life is filled with other things that are just important. Enjoy them while you can.
2) Your race/swim/bike/run will not always go the way you want it to go. So always be prepared for the pivot.
3) You are capable of so much more than you know. So go and do it! It's okay to be scared. Challenge yourself to overcome your fears. Turn off that TV. Get off the couch. Go out and do something awesome even if it hurts a bit. Your body is an incredible piece of machinery!